You definitely have coolant in your oil to some extent just by the crud built up under your oil fill cap. That is definitely not normal condensation from combustion gases. If you want a definite diagnosis either take it to a shop or get some coolant dye and a one of those mirrors on the flexible rods and confirm exactly where the leak is coming from. The coolant passages are at the ends of the cylinder heads that is why what your are describing is the classic symptoms of a head gasket leak. That does not rule out a valley gasket leak though they are hard to distinguish.

 

I dont know, I used to have a Oldsmobile that would get the milkshake on the inside of the oil filler cap like that unless it was driven on the expressway.
City driving is a killer for engines, especially in cold weather.
I wiped the cap clean every time I changed the oil and 120k (bought it brand new) later still had no coolant issues.
SO I agree, the oil filler cap test is not a 100% sure fire indicator, especially if you have only owned the car for a short time.
You have no idea how it was driven before you.

 

I drove my truck in manhattan and queens mostly short trips (stop, go,stop,stop,go...) for 4 years and I have never seen anything like that under my oil fill cap.

 

I really do think I've got a head gasket problem, when I changed the oil about 1500 miles ago, nothing like this was in the oil cap. My daily commute is about 1.5 miles, but with traffic its a 15 minute idle/drive. I'm confident this is a new thing. For what its worth, the oil cap was incredably hard to remove, I had to use a big wrench, and the tube was also caked with yellow "gelitan" looking crud and little mounds.

What is the valley pan gasket, and wher is it located? How hard would it be to replace relative to the head gaskets? I'd feel better off at this point if I knew for sure it was the head gaskets because its a pretty simple process, just very long.

 

The valley pan gasket is the lower intake manifold gasket. It is the large gasket that spans the "valley" between the cylinder heads. It is easier to get to than the head gaskets but once you are in that deep you might as well continue on and do the HG's.

 

[quote=brianb883;157407]For what its worth, the oil cap was incredably hard to remove, I had to use a big wrench, and the tube was also caked with yellow "gelitan" looking crud and little mounds.
quote]

Brian~

Oddly enough I found this same issue on my '04 Disco on Saturday during my first oil change since I bought it back in October. I tried like hell to get the oil fill cap off and couldnt. Had to throw a rag on the cap and get a big pair of channel locks to get it off. Once off, the top of the cap looked like water condensation, and a little milky, similar to the picture that was posted. I haven't noticed any coolant leaks yet. The level is a bit low, but by no means is it "using" up coolant. The temp gauge seems to be right in the middle as it always has been since I've owned it but it has barely hit the 20s here in Indiana during the past 2 weeks. The old oil looked like old used oil to me. I couldnt see any coolant in it. I cleaned the cap up and put it back on. Let me know what you find out. Sounds like your case is a lot more extreme than mine, at least for now....

 

I looked up more info on this subject and found several places that can attribute the cold weather to this. Hopefully this is the case....

Winter is here and I've noticed last winter on a bunch of forums this type of thread pops up at least once a week on pretty much all engine specific forums.


During the winter, it gets so cold that the oil vapors in your crankcase and condensates onto your oil cap. Most people see this when they go to change their oil or just take off the cap and panic thinking. It's nothing more than oil/water emulsion.

What it is:
What you are seeing is nothing more but oil sludge. It is the result of hot oil fumes condensing at the oil breather area near the oil cap and interacting with moisture from the air, mostly in cold weather.. The white-yellowish goo you see is oil condensation mixed with water vapors.

What causes it:
This yellow sludge, goo gunk, whatever you wanna call it, forms because:
1. You drove the engine frequently on short trips and it could not heat up long enough to burn off the water vapors.
2. The oil seals on the oil breather and the oil cap are shot (rarely).
3. You did not tighen the oil cap all the way
4. It's cold outside

How to fix/avoid this:
1. Replace both oil gaskets in the oil breather. One sits between the oil breather and the valve cover. The second gasket you must replace is the one on the oil cap. When these gaskets get heated, the rubber/silicone often burns and shrinks thus allowing for moist air to enter and interact with oil fumes
2. Avoid short trips
3. Switch to synthetic oil. Synthetics have better detergent qualities and will not sludge as much as the conventional motor oil

 

Sure it can be normal but the OP does have a severe external coolant leak so I guess the gunk in the cap is a bit of a moot point. I will add that if your oil fill cap looks like that I hate to see what it looks like under the rocker covers.

 

Thanks iplayblues4u and lipadj46 for both your insights.
A few things to note,
this truck has Rotella 5w-40 synthetic. Before I changed the oil to the rotella I had standard grade dinosaur 10w-30 that the private dealer had put in it at the time of the purchase. I drove it around with the standard oil for about a month until I got time to do the 60k service, and after a month of that same daily commute I had none of that gunk on the oil cap.

The gunk on the oil cap combined with the back drivers side engine leak really has sealed the deal. Its either heads or valley, and both are included in the head kit, and after reviewing the RAVE, I'm just going to do the whole head kit job, which will linclude valley, valve covers, exhaust manifold etc. I'm actually happy that this is the cause because up until now I had no real maintenance base on this vehicle, and after reading about the head gasket failure rate around 100k miles, I was just waiting for them to go bad so I would have peace of mind for another 70k miles. After this job, I'll feel alot better about the engine's condition.

Shes going up on a lift on wednesday where with the help of a mechanic, will officially diagnose the problem and get started.

I've come up with this list of things needed:

Machine Shop for resurfacing and head pressure test

Bosch V8 Gasket Kit
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/STC4082BK.cfm
Thermostat:
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/PEM100990.cfm

6 Quarts Oil
3 Gallons 50/50 Mix (might change to green coolant after a flush)

Front two Oxygen sensors
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/MHK100920.cfm

Rear two Oxygen Sensors
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/MHK100930.cfm

Anything else I am missing? I'm doing the oxygen sensors because the truck has 103k miles on it, they're original, and my mileage according to the scangauge II sucks, between 9 and 11 mpg, with no exterior mods and a very light foot on the pedal.

Oh and my reward for a job well done: (if we ever get to this point)

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/2004A.cfm


Am I missing anything? Any tips or further insight is really appreciated guys!

 

Brian~

You might have already done this, I haven't, but will soon....I'm always reading about SPike and Disco Mike's comments on changing the spark plug wires over to 8mm's from 7mm (I think). I dont remember the brand but it might even be on the 60k service list. Only thing I can think of right off hand...